Construction Resumes of Creek Casino in Alabama

The Wind Creek Casino & Hotel, owned by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians.

Credit southerngaming.com

The Poarch Band of Creek Indians is resuming work on its $246 million casino and hotel in Wetumpka.

Work on the 20-story project stopped two weeks ago after the Muscogee Nation of Creek Indians in Oklahoma objected to the plans. The Oklahoma tribe has historic ties to the land once known as Hickory Town Ground, and it objected to the graves of its ancestors being exhumed and moved.

The Poarch Creek's tribal chairman, Buford Rolin, said Wednesday tribal council representatives made a trip to Oklahoma but reached an impasse. Tribal Council member Arthur Mothershed said the Poarch Creeks were faced with demands to remove ancestral remains that had already been reinterred, but they could not support disturbing those remains again. He said no more remains will be excavated.